


The Crest of Riegan

by BuddyTheMeanPeacock



Series: The Crest of Riegan [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Being safe with the tags here, Blood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21678970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyTheMeanPeacock/pseuds/BuddyTheMeanPeacock
Summary: Dimitri watches as Claude saves himself from a mortal wound.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Claude von Riegan, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: The Crest of Riegan [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563514
Comments: 11
Kudos: 158





	The Crest of Riegan

Claude cannot die here.

It was the thought that kept racing through Dimitri's mind as he parried another swing from the paladin before him. He was the closest one to Claude as an axe cleaved a mortal gash across his chest. Any other man would have died by now, in the midst of the prince fending off what was clearly the leader of this enemy excursion. Claude was different; Dimitri had heard stories of the bodies of Riegans surviving wounds that would kill a man ten times over, and he was witnessing the truth of such stories as Claude barely clings to life.

Dimitri had never seen a bearer of the Crest of Riegan before Claude. If he could not dispose of this horseman soon he felt he wouldn't see a Riegan bearer after Claude either.

A sudden opening- the man's eyes drifted from Dimitri and landed behind him, his breath catching on his throat. He leapt at the chance, using his force to push his lance against the horseman's with as much might as he was able, feeling the familiar burn of his Crest heighten the muscles of his body. The man lost his balance; he tipped over and, his foot catching the stirrup, toppled his horse down with him. He was not crushed entirely- only his legs were trapped under the horse's massive weight, pinning him to the ground. The man looked on, and Dimitri saw a look of utter terror cross his face. He screamed, a wretched sound of primal fear.

Dimitri raised his weapon, eager to end the man's plight and erase him from his mind.

" _Di...mi...tri..."_

He stopped dead. The burning he felt before froze over to a dreadful cold, gripping his heart and freezing his blood.

The man had seen what was behind Dimitri.

He was still looking, ignoring Dimitri entirely.

Dimitri heard a shuffle.

Every instinct in his body told him to keep looking forward. Dimitri tightened the grip on his lance. He shouldn't look. He shouldn't look. He shouldn't look-

The shuffling comes back. It was getting closer.

He turns his head slowly, his body resisting the movement.

Regret fills his being. Followed by horror.

There before him was Claude, blindingly smart and collected leader of the Alliance, radiant with his presence. That same man now stood, head hanging limp to the side as his grave gash spurted blood down his noble clothes. His axe was held loose in one hand, dragging behind him as he shambled his body towards them.

His eyes were wide. They stayed on the pinned man, a desperate gaze flooding them. Dimitri would have been glad it was blood flowing from the walking corpse's lips had it not been for the overwhelming dread taking over his mind.

" _Move..."_

A voice croaked from the hanging mouth of the body lumbering closer and closer. Dimitri's legs moved back before he could think, his body feeling the need to move away, as far as he could get from this _thing_.

The paladin panicked, grasping at the grass underneath him and pulling wildly in a vain hope of escaping. It was of no use; he stayed put while the axe-wielding creature grew closer. And closer. And closer.

Finally, the distance is closed; the horseman looks up at its ender, frenzied breaths loud against the deathly quiet croaks damaged lungs tried to bring in the dying body. It lifted the axe above its head.

The crescent moon Crest of Riegan glowed behind it.

Dimitri watched as the paladin gave one last desperate protest before the axe sunk into his back with a sickening thud. 

Dimitri heard the man let out a noise; as though he were being strangled, he let out a rasping sound. It made bile rise in his throat, images of deathly ghosts reliving their dying moments encompassing his mind. The rider's complexion turned ashen pale as a light, its green so muted as to be mistaken for white, left his body, traveled up the axe's blade, its handle, before reaching its wielder's hands. They tightened as the light slithered itself up the arms, across the chest, down the legs, enveloping the whole body in a dim glow, the radiance a disgusting mockery of welcoming warmth.

The once shambling body stayed crouched, taking long, healthy breaths.

Dimitri watched as Claude straightened and turned to him; his chest was uninjured, the only blood present having already been there before. His eyes were alive and rid of the desperation filling them. Now they held something else.

Resignation.

That Dimitri could so clearly read the normally guarded eyes of his friend meant that Claude truly expected him to be repulsed. And he was. Never has he seen a Crest grant such an ability, to leech the life out of others, to allow its bearer to remain in such a state of what could only be called a sick imitation of life.

It was horrifying. 

Claude must have seen his terror- of course he could. As though Dimitri could hide anything from Claude, least of all his emotions. The vulnerability lasts for but a moment before an empty smile inches across his face. "I know, not exactly the prettiest sight," he jokes, as though what happened held any right to be talked about casually. "We should regroup with the others."

And he tries to brush past Dimitri, walk away from the body he stole the life of. Dimitri catches him by the arm. Claude looks up, shock written on his face.

"I am glad you are alive, Claude."

His Crest was nightmarish. But it kept him alive. Dimitri can ignore everything else, knowing that fact was true.

Claude's eyes widened- he wasn't expecting such words, it seems. He couldn't uphold the stare, looking away, chuckling to himself. Then, after a silent pause, "...Thanks. That's... good to know."

He wiggles out of Dimitri's grasp, and he goes on ahead. 

Dimitri follows after him.

**Author's Note:**

> AKA the Riegan Crest (and Chevalier but that shit's lost lol) is spooky cuz it just fuckin. Sucks up life.


End file.
